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THREE LITTLE KITTENS 




L 



J anbury, Fluffy and Yowler 





THREE 

LITTLE KITTENS 


WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED 
BY 

KATHARINE PYLE 

Author of '.’Six Little Ducklings/’ 
"Two Little Mice,” etc. 



NEW YORK 

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 
1920 






Copyright, 1920, 

By DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, Ino. 



VAIL* BALLOU COMPANY 

BINQHAMTON AND NEW YORK 

§)CI.A601567 



^0 


/ 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE > 

Jazbury, Fluffy and Yowler . . . . Frontispiece^ 

The cat people always had very good meals . . 4^ 

Fluffy set out along the top of the fence, walking 
very slowly 

The rat looked at him with a wicked grin 

He knocked against a tin pan that clattered down 
with a tremendous din 


10^ 


20 


26 


He dreamed he was trying to run down a road to- 
ward a wood and a dog was after him — two dogs 34^ 

It seemed as though any moment the dog’s teeth 

might close on the kitten 40^"" 

Fluffy dropped the bird and put his paw on it . 50L 

> He turned on them so fiercely that they were 

frightened 62^ 

They were almost hidden by the dusty weeds . 68^ 

He spit and mewed and fought, but she held him 

there 72^ 

They saw Jazbury dragging something in from the 
shed beyond . . . .90 



/ 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 



THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


J AZBURY came scampering gaily up the 
stairs to where his mother and Aunt 
Tabby were sitting on the window-sill 
washing their faces and cleaning their fur. 

Jazbury was a small black kitten with white 
markings on his face and breast, and soft little 
white paws. Soft as those little paws were there 
were sharp, needle claws hidden in their velvet, 
and Jazbury knew how to use them when neces- 
sary, too. 

Mother Bunch’s tail hung down from the win- 
dow-seat, waving softly. It looked almost like a 
mouse, so soft and grey. Jazbury made a jump, 
and caught it with his claws. His mother 
growled and drew her tail up and curled it 
around her. 


2 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


Jazbury jumped up after it, and tried to tease 
his mother into playing with him. 

“Jazbury, you haven’t washed yourself this 
morning,” said his aunt severely, “Look at 
your paws. You’ve been in the coal-bin again, 
you naughty kitten.” 

“Well, I thought I heard a mouse there,” 
mewed Jazbury. 

“A mouse! What would a mouse be doing 
in the coal-bin? No, you just wanted an excuse 
for clambering about among the coal and mak- 
ing it rattle. And now look how dirty you are.” 

“Sit down and make yourself clean, Jazbury,” 
said his mother. “No; let my tail alone. I’m 
not going to play with you. And if you want 
any breakfast you’d better make haste to wash 
yourself. I will not have such a dirty kitten 
eating from the saucer with me.” 

Jazbury sat down and began to wash his face 
with one of his grimy little paws. 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


3 

His aunt sighed. “Paws first,” she said. 
“You’ll only make yourself dirtier if you try to 
wash your face before you clean your paws.” 

“Oh, dear me!” mewed Jazbury crossly. 

“I really don’t know what’s going to become 
of you if you don’t keep yourself cleaner,” his 
aunt went on. “I’m really afraid something 
terrible may happen to you. I knew a cat once 
who wouldn’t wash herself, and so her mistress 
used to do it for her with water, so she was wet 
all over. Water and soap! And a sponge! 
How would you feel if that happened to you 
some day? And it may unless you learn to keep 
yourself cleaner.” 

Jazbury was frightened at the thought that 
such a thing might happen to him, too, if he 
didn’t keep himself clean, and he set about wash- 
ing himself in earnest. First he washed his 
paws, and after he had cleaned them he cleaned 
his face, licking his paw with his little pink 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


'4 

tongue, and curling it round over his furry little 
cheeks and forehead and chin and even behind 
his ears. By breakfast time he was clean 
enough to be allowed to eat with his mother and 
Aunt Tabby. 

The human people and the cat people had 
their breakfast at the same time. The human 
people had theirs in the dining-room, and the 
cat people had theirs in the pantry. The cat 
people always had very good meals; bread and 
milk, and fish twice a week, and sometimes meat 
and potatoes. 

“What’s the use of my bothering to catch 
mice?” Jazbury often said. “I get all I want to 
eat anyway.” 

And his aunt would answer, “You ought to 
feel grateful enough for your good meals to 
want to catch mice for people.” 

But Jazbury paid little attention to such ad- 



The cat people always had very good meals 



THREE LITTLE KITTENS 5 

vice. All he cared for was having a good time 
and play about, and if mice had to be caught he 
left it to his mother and Aunt Tabby to do it. 


II 


J AZBURY’S best friend was a little white 
kitten named Fluffy. Fluffy lived in the 
house next door to Jazbury’s. 

At the other side of Jazbury’s house was an 
open lot. The gentlemen cats of the neigh- 
bourhood had a club that met in this lot every 
night. It was a singing club, but sometimes the 
cats quarrelled among themselves, and were 
very noisy. Mother Bunch and Aunt Tabby 
said they wished the cats would meet some other 
place; but Jazbury liked to hear them. He 
wished he were old enough to belong to the 
club, and sing and fight, and stay out all night 
the way they did. But he was still only a soft, 
playful little kitten, who had not even caught 
his first mouse as yet. 

Once Jazbury had climbed up on the fence, 
6 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 7 

and jumped over into the lot. There he had 
prowled about among the weeds, and chased 
grasshoppers, and shiny black crickets. It was 
great fun. 

Another kitten was hunting there, too, but he 
was hunting birds. He laughed at Jazbury for 
catching grasshoppers. He told Jazbury his 
name was Yowler, and that he belonged to the 
baker who liver further down the street. Yow- 
ler had a broad, ugly face and a stubby tail, and 
his fur looked dirty and uncared for. He was 
a yellow cat. 

Jazbury liked him because he was strong and 
big and bold, but when Jazbury told his mother 
about Yowler she said she did not want Jazbury 
to play with him. She said she knew all about 
him ; that he was a very coarse, noisy cat, and she 
told Jazbury he must not go over in the lot again. 

Jazbury was allowed to go over into Fluffy’s 
yard whenever he wanted to. Mother Bunch 


8 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


and Aunt Tabby both liked Fluffy. They 
thought he was a very nice, well-behaved little 
kitten. 

One day when Jazbury climbed up on the 
fence that separated his yard from Fluffy’s he 
saw his little friend sitting down on the kitchen 
steps, watching something in the grass below 
him. He was so intent on what he saw that he 
did not notice Jazbury. 

“Hello, Fluffy!” mewed Jazbury. 

Fluffy jumped. Then he looked around. 

“Hello!” 

“What you got there?” asked Jazbury curi- 
ously. 

“A toad.” 

“Going to catch it?” 

“No, I don’t like them. They haven’t any 
fur, and I don’t like the feel of them.” 

“Well, come on up here. I want to show you 
something.” 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


9 

Fluffy climbed up a step-ladder that was lean- 
ing against the fence. 

“What are you going to show me?” 

“Do you see this fence? Well, I walked all 
the way round on the top of it yesterday, and 
never fell off once.” 

Fluffy looked at the fence in silence for a mo- 
ment or so. Then he said, “That’s not so much 
to do.” 

“I guess it is, too. You couldn’t do it.” 

“Yes, I could, if I wanted to.” 

“Well, let’s see you.” 

“I don’t want to.” 

“You’re afraid.” 

“No, I’m not, either.” 

“Yes, you are, too. 

“Fraidy cat! Fraidy cat! 

Never catch a mouse or rat.” 

“I can; I can catch mice. And I can walk on 
the fence, too. I’ll show you.” 


10 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


“Walk to the post and back and I’ll give you 
a chicken bone I found down back of the rain- 
barrel.” 

“All right; it’s a promise. Now watch me.” 

Fluffy set out along the top of the fence, walk- 
ing very slowly and carefully, one paw before 
the other. 

“Hurry up! hurry up! No fair walking so 
slowly,” said Jazbury. 

“Yes, it is fair, too. And don’t you mew at 
me.” 

Fluffy reached the post safely, and then tried 
to turn. But that was not such an easy matter. 
He lost his balance. His tail waved wildly. 
His claws clutched the fence. He teetered back 
and forth, and then, with a loud mew, he half 
jumped, half fell, down on the flower bed be- 
low. 

Jazbury laughed and laughed, the way kittens 
do. You wouldn’t have known he was laugh- 


V 



Fluffy set out along the top of the fence, walking very slowly 










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THREE LITTLE KITTENS ii 


ing. You couldn’t have heard it, but a cat or 
kitten could. It hurt Fluffy’s feelings to be 
laughed at. 

“I don’t care. I don’t believe you could do 
it, either,” he mewed. 

“Now watch me!” said Jazbury. 

He ran gaily out along the fence top with 
never a pause or mis-step. He ran all the way 
down one side without stopping, and then 
started across the back fence toward the other 
side. 

N ow back of J azbury’s yard was another yard, 
and a very rough boy lived there. The boy was 
out in the yard now. He was squirting a hose, 
and another boy with a very dirty face was there 
with him. 

“Hi!” cried the dirty-faced boy. “Look at 
that kitten walking along the fence.” 

“Yeh!” answered the other. “I’m going to 
squirt the hose on him!” 


12 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


“Go ahead !” cried the other. “See what he’ll 
do.” 

Jazbury was very much frightened. He be- 
gan to run. He might have jumped down off 
the fence, but he never thought of that. He ran 
as fast as he could, but before he could reach 
the other side a torrent of cold water struck 
him, almost sweeping him off the fence. The 
boy was squirting the hose on him as he had 
said. 

Jazbury tried to hold fast to the fence; 
he tried to yowl, but the rush of water filled 
his mouth — his eyes — his ears. Blinded and 
drenched, he was finally carried off the fence 
by it, and landed in the yard below — his own 
yard, luckily. There the fence protected him. 

Fluffy looked on, horrified by what he saw. 

Jazbury struggled to his feet, and ran toward 
the house, trailing water after him. 

“Mew, miew!” he cried. “Oh, Momma! 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 13 

Momma I Come quick! Miew! Miew! 
Miew!” 

Mother Bunch heard him crying, and burst 
open the screen door of the kitchen and came 
running to meet him. 

“What is it? What is it?” she cried. 
“What’s the matter, Jazbury?” 

“Oh, I’m so wet. I’m so w-w-wet!” he shiv- 
ered. 

“Oh, my child, come over here!” Mother 
Bunch hurried him over to a warm, sunny cor- 
ner beside the kitchen steps, and began to dry 
him with her pink, rough tongue. 

“But how did it happen?” she asked again. 
“Did you fall into a bucket?” 

“I didn’t fall into anything except the yard. 
It was some boys and they put water on me,” 
and Jazbury told his mother the whole story. 

Aunt Tabby sat by and listened gravely. 
“Well, Jazbury, it’s really no more than I ex- 


14 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

pected,” said she. “It’s just as I told you. If 
you won’t wash yourself you’ll get washed by 
some one else. And I must say you’re looking 
cleaner than you’ve looked for many a day.” 

His mother said nothing. She thought Jaz- 
bury had been punished enough by the drench- 
ing without being lectured as well. 


Ill 


J AZBURY, IVe found a fresh mouse- 
hole,” said Aunt Tabby one day. “It’s 
in the cupboard under the sink, and the 
cook has left the door open. Come with me and 
I’ll show it to you. I have great hopes the mouse 
may come out before so very long, and if you sit 
there and watch you may catch him.” 

“Aunt Tabby! Oh, I don’t want to watch 
mouse-holes today,” mewed Jazbury. “I told 
Fluffy I would come out and play with him. 
Mayn’t I, Mother? I said I would, and I don’t 
want to sit there in the cupboard and watch. 
Maybe the mouse wouldn’t come out anyway, 
and Fluffy expects me.” 

“You always have some excuse, Jazbury,” 

said his aunt, severely. “If you had your way 
15 


i6 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


you would never do anything but play. But as 
long as you have to learn to mouse some time, I 
don’t see why today isn’t as good a time to begin 
as any.” 

“Yes, Jazbury. Go with your aunt,” said his 
mother. “And don’t look sulky. I’m sure you 
ought to be very grateful to her for telling you 
about the hole.” 

“But I don’t want to sit in the cupboard all 
morning. And I can find holes, too. I found 
one out in the shed yesterday. A big, big one. 
I’d rather watch that one if I have to watch 
any.” 

“Very well,” said his aunt. “You may do as 
you please about it, but I think you’d be much 
more likely to catch a mouse in the cupboard.” 

“I’d rather watch in the shed.” 

His mother, too, said he might do as he chose 
about it, but neither she nor Aunt Tabby had 
much hopes he would catch anything. 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 17 

“I’ll have to go out and tell Fluffy I can’t play 
this morning,’’ said Jazbury. 

“Don’t be long,” said his mother. “Come 
straight back as soon as you have told him.” 

Jazbury promised he would, and then he ran 
out into the kitchen and mewed for the cook to 
open the outside door for him. 

“Bother those cats!” scolded the cook. “It 
takes all my time letting them in and out.” 

She left the soup she was stirring and came 
over and opened the door, and the kitten ran 
past her out into the sunny yard. 

Fluffy was sitting on the top step of the ladder, 
looking over the fence and waiting for him. 

“I can’t come out to play with you now. I 
have to catch a mouse for Mother and Aunt 
Tabby.” 

Fluffy was much interested. “Where are you 
going to catch it?” he asked. 

“In the shed. I found the hole myself. It’s 


i8 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


a big, big, big hole. I guess the biggest mouse 
you ever saw lives in it. I guess you’d be scared 
if you tried to catch a mouse as big as that one; 
wouldn’t you?” 

“Maybe I would and maybe I wouldn’t.” 

“I know you would.” 

“I’ve caught some big mice, too,” said Fluffy. 

“Not as big as this one, though. I’ll show 
him to you after I catch him.” 

Jazbury ran back and mewed for the cook to 
open the door again. The cook was so angry 
she would not open it for quite a while, but Jaz- 
bury mewed so loudly that at last she was 
obliged to for the sake of peace. When she did 
open it she cried, “Scat!” at him, and pushed out 
her foot at him as he ran past her. 

Jazbury did not mind that. He hurried on 
past her, and out into the shed, the door of which 
was luckily open. 

The hole he had found was down back of a 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 19 

bench, and some unused buckets were piled up 
in front of it. 

Jazbury crouched down in the shadow of the 
buckets. He crouched there for a long time 
without moving, and with his eyes fixed patiently 
on the hole. Aunt Tabby would have been 
pleased and surprised if she could have seen 
how still he kept. 

After a while, however, he began to feel dis- 
couraged. He wondered whether there were 
any mouse there after all. Maybe Aunt Tabby 
was right, and he should have watched in the 
cupboard. 

Just as he was thinking this he heard a scratch- 
ing, brushing sound inside the hole, and a grey 
head with a pointed nose and two gleaming 
round black eyes appeared at the mouth of the 
hole. 

Jazbury quivered all over as he crouched still 
lower and made ready to leap upon the mouse. 


20 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


Then suddenly he stiffened and stared with big 
eyes. Surely no mouse had ever had such a big 
head as that. After the head followed a great 
fat body, and a long, long, long tail. The 
mouse was not a mouse at all, but a huge grey 
rat. 

Jazbury was terrified. His tail grew big and 
every separate hair stood on end. 

The rat looked at him with a wicked grin. 
“Ho, ho! So you thought you’d catch me, did 
you?” cried the rat. “I knew you were there. 
I heard you and I smelled you. You thought 
you’d catch me, did you? Well, here I am! 
Now let’s see you catch me.” 

The rat sidled over toward Jazbury, and just 
as fast as he sidled over Jazbury backed away. 
He tried to spit and growl, but he was too fright- 
ened. 

“Thought you’d catch me! Maybe I’ll catch 



The rat looked at him with a wicked grin 



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THREE LITTLE KITTENS 21 

you. I like little kittens for supper. Like ’em 
as much as cheese.” 

He gave a heavy jump toward Jazbury, and 
his sharp teeth showed in a wicked grin. 

“Momma! Momma! Aunt Tabby! Come 
quick,” mewed Jazbury shrilly. 

Suddenly the rat started. His eyes glared 
past Jazbury toward the kitchen door. A look 
of terror came over his face. He wheeled about 
and scuttled back toward his hole. 

At the same moment there was an angry 
growl, and a grey shape shot past Jazbury. It 
was Aunt Tabby. She had heard Jazbury’s 
cry of distress and had flown to help him. She 
rushed at the rat and made a wild grab at him. 
But he was too quick for her. Already he was 
disappearing in his hole. She did catch his tail, 
but it slipped away from her and the next mo- 
ment the rat was gone. 


22 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


Jazbury began to mew pitifully. 

“Why, Jazbury, what are you crying about 
now? You’re all safe,” said his aunt. 

“Mew! mew! mew! Oh, he frightened me 
so ! I never knew there were mouses like that !” 

“Mouse! That wasn’t a mouse, kitten! 
That was a rat, and a very big and savage rat, 
too. No wonder you were frightened. You’ll 
have to be a bigger kitten before you can grap- 
ple with a rat. Tve been trying to have a chance 
at him myself, but I’ve never even seen him 
till today. He always stays hidden when I’m 
around.” 

Aunt Tabby talked on, comforting the kitten 
until at last he stopped trembling and his hairs 
smoothed themselves down into the usual 
smoothness. 

“Now, Jazbury, perhaps you’ll watch one of 
my mouse-holes,” she ended. “I promise you 
nothing but mice ever come out of it.” 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 23 

“Very well. And thank you, Aunt Tabby,” 
said Jazbury meekly. And he followed her 
back from the shed into the kitchen, wondering 
what he would say to Fluffy when he saw him 
again, and how he could explain not having 
caught anything after all. 

However, he need not have been troubled. 
Fluffy was such a gentle little kitten that he 
never would tease or make fun of any one, no 
matter what they did or didn’t do. 


IV 


T he next morning Aunt Tabby again 
ofifered to show Jazbury the mouse-hole 
in the cupboard. 

Jazbury looked very sulky. He was ashamed 
to try to beg off again, particularly after what 
Aunt Tabby had done for him the day before, 
but it seemed hard to have to give up another 
morning of play. 

He followed Aunt Tabby into the kitchen. 
The cook had gone to market and the door of the 
cupboard was aj ar. Aunt T abby pushed it open 
and led the way into the darkness where the pots 
and pans were stored. 

“Here’s the hole, Jazbury,” she told him in 
a low voice. “I have a feeling the mouse is out. 


24 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 25 

and if you only keep perfectly quiet I feel sure 
it will try to get back into the hole again. That 
will be your chance, and I shall be very much 
disappointed if you do not catch your first mouse 
this morning.’ 

“I don’t feel as if I could catch anything to- 
day,” said Jazbury sulkily. 

“Now, Jazbury, don’t go about it that way. 
If you don’t catch it, it will be your own fault, 
and I shall feel very much provoked with you.” 

Then Aunt Tabby went away and left him 
there. She did not go very far, however. She 
was so anxious to have him get the mouse that 
she lingered close by where she could hear every- 
thing that went on in the cupboard — though this 
the kitten did not know. 

Jazbury crouched down in the shadow of the 
kettle as his aunt bade him, and kept perfectly 
quiet with his eyes fixed on the hole. Not even 
a whisker stirred. He did wish he could catch 


26 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


that mouse, if only to show Aunt Tabby what he 
could do if he chose. How pleased and sur- 
prised she and his mother would be if he were 
really to get one. Outside the kitchen was very 
still. The clock tick-tocked and the kettle sim- 
mered on the stove. 

Suddenly Jazbury heard a little scratching, 
scraping sound back of one of the pots. It was 
so very little and faint that only a cat’s ears could 
have heard it. Jazbury’s eyes grew round, and 
his muscles stiffened ready for a leap. 

Suddenly out from behind the pot whined a 
winged grasshopper. It flew so close to Jaz- 
bury it almost brushed his nose. 

Forgetting all about the mouse, Jazbury made 
a leap for it. He knocked against a tin pan 
that clattered down with a tremendous din. At 
the same moment a little grey shape flitted out 
from behind him like a tiny shadow, slipped 
across the floor and disappeared down the 



He knocked against a tin pan that clattered down zvith 

tremendous din 




THREE LITTLE KITTENS 27 

mouse-hole. It was the mouse, and J azbury had 
lost it. 

Almost at the same moment J azbury received 
a sharp box on the ear that almost upset him. 

“You bad boy!” cried his aunt. “Fm just all 
out of patience with you. Even when a mouse 
runs right by under your nose you can’t catch 
it.” 

Jazbury began to mew. “Well, you don’t 
have to box my ears, anyway. I couldn’t help 
it.” 

“Yes, you could. That’s what provokes me 
so. Fluffy’s not half as quick and active as you, 
and look at the way he catches mice. I’m 
ashamed of you.” 

Mother Bunch’s round furry face appeared at 
the door looking in at them. “What’s the mat- 
ter? Has Jazbury been doing anything?” 

“No, he hasn’t been doing it, that’s the mat- 


28 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


ter,” and Aunt Tabby poured out the whole 
story, while Jazbury stood by looking both sul- 
len and ashamed. 

“I don’t care; I couldn’t help it,” he said, 

“Don’t say ‘don’t care’ to me,” said Mother 
Bunch. “It isn’t respectful — not to me, nor to 
your aunt either. The mouse has gone, I sup- 
pose, so there’s no use in your staying here. 
You may go out on the kitchen steps. But you 
mustn’t play around or go over to see Fluffy. 
That is your punishment for being so careless, 
and disrespectful, too.” 


V 


J AZBURY sat out on the kitchen steps 
and sulked. He did not think Aunt 
Tabby had any right to box his ears. 
And instead of being sorry for him his mother 
had scolded him. It wasn’t fair. He was al- 
ways getting scolded and punished. Well, he’d 
just run away. That’s what he’d do. He’d run 
away and never come back. Then they’d be 
sorry. Maybe they’d cry. He just wished they 
would. He’d be glad if they cried. 

Suddenly Fluffy’s little furry white face 
peered over the fence. “Hello, Jazbury.” 

Jazbury did not answer at once. Then he 
said, “ ’Lo!” 

“What’s the matter?” 


29 


30 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

“Nothing the matter.” 

“What you looking so cross about?” 

“Nothing; ain’t looking cross.” 

Fluffy climbed over the fence and came and 
sat down by Jazbury. He looked at him once 
or twice, but he did not say anything. He was 
rather afraid of Jazbury when Jazbury was in 
one of his tempers. 

“Can’t you come over in my yard to play?” 
he asked at last. 

“Don’t want to.” 

At this moment there was a scratching sound 
on the fence between the yard and the lot, and a 
third kitten, a large yellow one, scrambled to the 
top of one of the fence posts and seated himself 
on it. It was Yowler. 

“Hello, Jaz!” he called down, in the yowling 
voice that had given him his name. 

“Hello!” answered Jazbury, still very sulky. 

The newcomer took no notice of Fluffy. 


31 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

“I got sumpin to tell you.” 

“What?” 

“Can’t tell you here. Come on over in the lot 
and I’ll tell you.” 

“Can’t.” 

“Why not?” 

“ ’Cause!” 

“Oh, come on!” 

“I tell you I can’t. I got to sit here for 
awhile.” 

“Why?” 

‘^Because, I tell you. 

Yowler jumped down into the yard and came 
over and seated himself beside Jazbury. Fluffy 
drew away. The newcomer was very dirty. 

“You gwan home, kit,” said Yowler to Fluffy. 
“Me and Jaz want to talk.” 

“I shan’t go home unless I want to,” answered 
Fluffy, bristling up. “I don’t have to go; do I, 
Jazbury?” 


32 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

“No. If you have anything to say, Yowler, 
say it.” 

“Fm afraid this kit’ll tell.” 

“Oh, go ahead!” cried Jazbury impatiently. 
“He won’t tell; will you. Fluffy?” 

“Of course not.” 

“Well — ” Yowler paused and looked care- 
fully round to see that no one was listening. 
“I’m going to run away.” 

Jazbury started violently. “Run away!” 
How strange for Yowler to say that. It was ex- 
actly the thing he had been thinking about. 

“Yeh! Run away. I’m tired of sticking 
around in the baker’s shop and catching his 
mice for him. Let him catch his own mice if 
he wants ’em. I’m tired of it, I tell you.” 
“Where are you going to run to?” 
“Somewhere. I think maybe I’ll go and live 
in the woods for awhile. Want to come along? 
It’s going to be fine.” 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 33 

“The woods!” broke in Fluffy. “You 
couldn’t live there. You’d be rained on. 
You’d get wet.'’ 

j “Oh, you keep quiet,” mewed Yowler 
roughly. “I ain’t talking to you. Don’t you 
want to come, Jaz? There’s lots of places to 
live, — hollow trees and things; and birds, and 
field mice, and fish; we’d just have a great 
time.” 

“But you don’t know how to get there,” said 
Jazbury. 

“Sure I do. Some man brought me in from 
the country when I was a kitten ; a little kitten, 
I mean ; we came past a wood, and I could find 
my way back there just as easy as not if I tried. 
Come on, Jaz. It’s going to be fine, I tell you.” 

“I’d just as lief as not,” said Jazbury slowly. 
.“When are you going?” 

“Tomorrow morning, I guess; just as soon as 
the baker opens his shop and I can get you.” 


34 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

“You come, too, Fluffy,” cried Jazbury sud- 
denly. “I’ll go if you will.” 

“Oh, no !” mewed Fluffy, and Yowler chimed 
in, “Oh, he can’t go. He’s too much of a mam- 
ma’s pet. We don’t want him.” 

“Yes, we do, too. And I won’t go unless he 
will. Come on. Fluffy. We’ll have lots of fun. 
And we needn’t stay unless we want to. Come 
on!” 

It took a great deal of persuasion before 
Fluffy would agree to the plan, but at last he said 
he would go if Yowler would promise to let him 
come home any time he wanted to. He also 
made Yowler promise that they would come 
straight back again that very day if they could 
not find a cave or a hollow tree for shelter be- 
fore nightfall. 

It was arranged that they should all three 
meet in the lot the next morning as soon after 



He dreamed he was trying to run down a road toward a wood 
and a dog was after him — two dogs 


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THREE LITTLE KITTENS 35 

breakfast as possible. Yowler wanted them to 
start before breakfast, but to this Fluffy would 
not consent. Jazbury, too, thought it would be 
well to have a last saucer of milk before they set 
out. They would not be apt to find much milk 
in the wood. 

That night Jazbury was very restless. He 
was too excited to sleep well. When he did 
doze off at last he dreamed he was trying to run 
down a road toward a wood and a dog was after 
him — two dogs — three dogs. He dug his nails 
into the ground and tried to pull himself along, 
but his paws seemed to have grown fast to the 
ground. Then the first dog was upon him, had 
caught him — was crying in his ear, “Jazbury, 
Jazbury, wake up. You must be having a 
nightmare, you are mewing so.” 

He opened his eyes and there he was, safe in 
the warm, snug home cellar, and Aunt Tabby 


36 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

was patting him, and telling him to wake up. 
Jazbury was still trembling and panting from 
the terror of his dream. 

“What were you dreaming, dear?” asked his 
mother. 

“Oh, nothing,” said Jazbury. “Just some- 
thing about dogs”; and then he snuggled up 
against his mother and went to sleep again, and 
this time he slept quietly and undisturbed by 
dreams. 


VI 


W HEN Jazbury awoke the next 
morning the sun was shining in 
through the cellar window, the 
birds were singing, and the air was full of dewy 
freshness. His ugly dreams of the night before 
were all forgotten. There could not have been 
a more wonderful day for three little kittens to 
start out on their adventures. 

The three of them met in the lot soon after 
breakfast, as they had agreed. Yowler at once 
took command. “Now, kits,” said he, “we 
won’t go all together in a bunch. That would 
look queer, and some one would be sure to no- 
tice us. I’ll start off first; Fluff can come next, 
and then Jaz. You keep about half a square 
behind me. Fluffy, and Jaz about half a square 

67 


38 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

behind you. Then you can see which way I go, 
but nobody will think we’re together.” 

To this plan the others agreed. 

“Suppose we meet some dogs?” said Fluffy. 

“If you do, you’ll just have to do the best you 
can. Run up an alley, or climb a fence or 
something. Now come on! We’ll go as far 
as the edge of the lot together.” 

The three little kittens stole away through the 
weeds, and when they came to the edge of the 
lot Jazbury and Fluffy stopped. They watched 
Yowler cross to the other side of the street and 
turn a corner. Then, after a moment or so. 
Fluffy followed, then Jazbury. 

The others were still in sight when Jazbury 
turned the corner, Yowler quite a distance up 
the street, and Fluffy not so far. 

Two women with brooms in their hands were 
sweeping their pavements and gossiping to- 
gether as they swept. “Look at that kitten,” 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 39 

said one of them, as Jazbury ran past them. 
“That’s the third kitten that’s gone by in the last 
few minutes.” 

“I know. I noticed that,” replied the other. 
“Funny! Wonder where they come from!” 

As Jazbury neared the next corner he heard a 
sound of voices in loud talk, and then the bark 
of a dog. Some boys were coming that way, 
and a dog was with them. They were just 
around the corner. 

Luckily there was an alleyway close by. Jaz- 
bury ran into it and crouched there, and a mo- 
ment later a group of rough-looking boys passed 
by it, with a couple of dogs at their heels. 
Luckily none of them thought of looking into 
the alleyway. Jazbury waited till the sound of 
voices had died away, and then he came out and 
ran on again. Yowler and Fluffy were far 
ahead now, and he had to hurry to get near them 
again. 


40 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

A little later Fluffy had an adventure that 
might have been very serious. He was going 
past a little brown wooden house when the door 
opened, and a little girl came out, followed by 
an ugly-looking cur. Almost at once the dog 
saw Fluffy. He gave a sort of half yelp, half 
bark, and started after him. Fluffy saw him 
coming. There was no fence, and no alleyway 
where he could take shelter. Fortunately there 
was a tree a little further down the street, and it 
was toward this tree that Fluffy ran for his life, 
his tail big, and every hair on end. 

The dog was close at his heels when he dashed 
up the tree. He clung there, part way up, the 
dog leaping and yelping below him. Jazbury 
watched from behind a flight of steps, trembling 
and terrified. It seemed as though any moment 
the dog’s teeth might close on the kitten. Fluffy 
clung there, afraid to try to climb higher, lest he 
lose his hold, and fail back into the dog’s jaws. 



It seemed as though any moment the dog’s teeth might close on 
the kitten 















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THREE LITTLE KITTENS 41 

The little girl had been shouting at the dog, 
and now she found a stick, and running up she 
beat him until he whined and ran a little dis- 
tance away. He did not go far, however, but 
stood watching eagerly while the little girl tried 
to coax Fluffy to come down to her. But this 
Fluffy would not do. He had now scrambled 
up to a crotch of the tree, and sat there mewing. 

Presently the door of the house opened, and a 
woman looked out. “Pansy,” she called to the 
child, “you go on and get me the yeast cake. 
I’m waiting for it.” 

“But, mother, there’s a kitten up this tree.” 

“I can’t help it if there is. You go on, and 
hurry, too. It’s almost school time.” 

Reluctantly the little girl left the tree and 
went on down the street and around the next 
corner. Fortunately she took the dog with her. 

Carefully and warily Jazbury crept along a 
gutter to the foot of the tree. “Hurry, Fluffy!” 


42 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

he mewed. “Come down. We must get away 
before the dog comes back.” 

“Oh, I’m afraid!” wailed Fluffy. “I want to 
go home. Mew! Mew!” 

“Don’t stop to cry,” called Jazbury impa- 
tiently. “You can’t get home now, and if you 
don’t hurry the dog will be back again.” 

So urged. Fluffy managed to half scramble, 
half fall down the tree, and he and Jazbury made 
off down the street as fast as they could go. 

They had come almost to the end of the vil- 
lage now, and Yowler was waiting for them. 

“What kept you so long?” he mewed crossly. 
“I’ve been waiting and waiting for you.” 

“A dog almost caught Fluffy,” said Jazbury; 
and he told Yowler the story of Fluffy’s adven- 
tures. “Wasn’t that terrible?” asked Jazbury. 

“Oh, I don’t know. He didn’t get him, any- 
way,” said Yowler impatiently. “We’ll get to 
the fields in a minute now, and then we can all 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 43 

keep together. There won’t be any one to see 
us.” 

A little later they were out of the village 
altogether. Before them lay the sunny breadth 
of the country, a meadow and a stream, a field, 
and far away the dark edge of a shady wood. 

The kittens slipped through a fence and into 
the deep grass of the meadow. Insects whined 
about them. A butterfly fluttered by, so close 
above them that when Jazbury leaped for it he 
almost caught it. He would have liked to chase 
some of the insects that flitted about, but Yowler 
told him to wait. “There are plenty of other 
things to catch,” he said. “Bigger things that 
we can really eat.” 

“Isn’t it fun. Fluffy?” cried Jazbury. “Aren’t 
you glad we came?” 

“Yes, it is fun,” answered Fluffy; but he did 
not seem quite as joyous over it as Jazbury. 

A little later Yowler crept away from them 


44 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

through the grasses. They saw him pounce, 
and a moment later he came back with a little 
field-mouse in his mouth. 

“What did I tell you?” he purred, proudly. 
“Guess we won’t starve here. The fields are 
full of them.” 

They divided the field-mouse amongst them, 
and though none of them were hungry it was 
fun to eat out there in the open meadow with 
the blue sky overhead, and the warm wind ruf- 
fling their fur. 

They went on again presently, taking their 
time, and making side excursions through the 
grasses, or stopping to rest and sun themselves 
in the more open places. 

Not until late afternoon did they come to the 
wood. By that time they were hungry again. 
Fluffy managed to catch a small bird, which de- 
lighted the other two. 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 45 

“Isn’t he a fine catcher? What did I tell 
you?” boasted Jazbury. 

After they had eaten the bird Yowler told the 
others to wait where they were, while he went on 
to find a place for them to sleep. 

After he left them the two younger kittens 
dropped into silence. Dusk was drawing 
down. How big and dark and lonely it seemed 
in the wood. Jazbury thought of his mother 
and Aunt Tabby. They must have missed him 
by now. How troubled they would be. There 
would be good milk in the saucer in the pantry. 
They must be eating their supper by now. But 
maybe they would be too sad and sorry to eat. 

Fluffy snuggled up close against him. “Jaz- 
bury !” he whispered. 

“Yes.” 

“Don’t you wish we were home?” 

“Well, I wouldn’t mind it.” 


46 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

“Let’s go home. Let’s go before Yowler gets 
back.” 

“No ; that would be mean. But maybe tomor- 
row, — only I don’t know the way.” 

“Miaw-aw-aw!” came Yowler’s loud voice, 
breaking harshly through the silence of the 
wood. “Come on over here, kits; I’ve found a 
fine place to sleep.” 

The other kittens hurried toward the place 
from which his voice had come, and found him 
standing in front of a hollow tree. There was 
a bed of moss and dry leaves in the hollow, and 
it was snug and dry. The three kittens crept 
into it and snuggled down together, and soon 
they were fast asleep, worn out by their jour- 
ney and the adventures they had passed through. 


VII 


J AZBURY opened his eyes and looked 
about him. For a moment he could not 
think where he was. Instead of the 
white-washed walls and beams of the cellar, the 
sides of the tree arched up above him; and there 
was Fluffy cuddled up close against him, instead 
of Mother Bunch and Aunt Tabby. 

Then he remembered. He had run away. 
He was in the wood. But where was Yowler? 
He had been there when Jazbury went to sleep. 
Surely Yowler had not gone away and deserted 
them. 

“Fluffy!” he mewed. 

Without opening his eyes Fluffy gave a sleepy 
little answering mew. He stretched himself 
and yawned, showing his little pink tongue 

47 


48 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

curled up inside his mouth. Then he opened 
his eyes. 

“Why, Jazbury!” he said in a surprised tone. 
He looked about him in a startled way. “Why 
— why — I’d forgotten we ran away. Where’s 
Yowler?” 

“I don’t know. Let’s call him.” 

But at this moment Yowler came strolling 
around from behind the tree. “Hello, kits !” he 
said. He had a comfortable, lazy look. He 
was licking his lips, and there was a tiny feather 
sticking to one of his whiskers. 

“Where have you been?” asked Jazbury. 

“Oh, I just went out to look about.” 

“Well, I’m hungry. What shall we do about 
breakfast?” 

“Yes; what shall we do about breakfast?” 
chimed in Fluffy. 

“Oh, you’ll have to catch something. There’s 
plenty here in the woods.” 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 49 

“But aren’t you going to help us?” asked Jaz- 
bury anxiously. 

“No. I don’t feel hungry. You kits go 
ahead. You won’t have any trouble about it. 
If I want anything I’ll catch it later on.” 

“But I don’t know how to catch things. I 
never learned,” said Ja’zbury. 

“All the worse for you, but I can’t help it,” 
said Yowler cruelly. 

Fluffy had been looking sharply at Yowler. 
Now he said, “Yowler, there’s a feather on your 
whiskers.” 

Yowler started. “Oh, is there?” he said, and 
he hastily wiped it off with his paw. “You’d 
better hurry up if you want to catch anything.” 
he added. “I’m sleepy. Guess I’ll take another 
snooze.” 

He went inside the tree and curled himself up 
in the warm spot that Jazbury and Fluffy had 
just left, and closed his eyes. The two smaller 


50 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

kittens stood looking at him for a moment. 

“Come on, Jazbury!” mewed Fluffy. “Let’s 
go and look for something to eat.” 

The two little kittens wandered away from the 
tree and on deeper into the wood. Jazbury 
felt very much hurt that Yowler would not come 
with them. He didn’t see why he wasn’t hun- 
gry, too. 

“I know why he wasn’t hungry,” said Fluffy 
mysteriously. 

“Why?” 

“Oh, I’ll tell you some time.” 

“Why won’t you tell me now?” 

“I don’t want to; but I’ll tell you some time.” 

Jazbury looked about him. “I don’t see 
wherever we’re to get anything to eat,” he 
mewed. 

“I do, right now,” whispered Fluffy. “Hist! 
Keep still now.” 

He crept silently forward through the bushes. 




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THREE LITTLE KITTENS 51 

there was a sudden leap — a squeak — a flutter, 
and a moment later Fluffy came back proudly 
carrying in his mouth a young bird he had 
killed. 

“Oh, goody!” cried Jazbury,“I just love bird, 
and I’ve never tasted it but once. Aunt Tabby 
caught one in the yard at home and gave me a 
piece. Won’t Yowler be pleased? Come on! 
Let’s hurry back with it and all have breakfast.” 

Fluffy dropped the bird and put his paw on it. 
“I’m not going to give Yowler any,” he declared. 

“Not give Yowler any! Oh, Fluffy! Why 
not?” 

“Because. Now I’ll tell you what I was 
going to tell you awhile ago, and didn’t. I’m 
just sure Yowler caught a bird this morning and 
ate it all himself before we were awake.” 

Jazbury could hardly believe such a thing 
could be true. “Oh, Fluffy! He wouldn’t be 
so mean!” he cried. 


52 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

“Well, I’m sure of it. Don’t you remember 
the feather on his whiskers? Anyway, you 
might as well eat your share of the bird for I 
shan’t give Yowler even a single bone, whether 
you eat any of it or not.” 

So the two little friends sat there on the soft 
moss and divided the bird between them. How 
delicious it was! The kittens purred and 
smacked their lips over it, it was so good, but 
all the while Jazbury had an unhappy feeling 
that they were treating Yowler very badly, for 
he couldn’t have done such a mean thing as to 
catch a bird and eat it without telling them a 
word about it. 

After they had finished eating Fluffy sat down 
and began to wash himself. “You’d better wash 
yourself, too, Jazbury,” he said. “Just look 
how dirty and dusty your fur is.” 

“I don’t care,” mewed Jazbury. “I didn’t 
come out in the woods to wash myself, and I 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 53 

don’t mean to do it. I’m never, never, never 
going to wash myself until we go home 
again.” 

“You’d feel a whole lot more comfortable if 
you were nice and clean,” said Fluffy, and he 
went on washing himself until his fur fairly 
shone with whiteness. 

Then the two kittens strolled back toward the 
tree. Jazbury was almost ashamed to face 
Yowler. Anyway, it was not his fault. It had 
not been his bird. 

Suddenly Fluffy stopped, his eyes wide and 
excited. “There, look at that !” he cried. 

“What?” asked Jazbury. 

“There ! Under that bush !” 

Jazbury looked, and then he saw a little heap 
of feathers lying under the bush, — a wing — a 
tail. Fluffy went over to where they lay and 
sniffed about. “I knew it,” he mewed. “Yow- 
ler has been here. This is where he killed the 


54 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

bird and ate it. Now you’ll believe me, I 
guess.” 

Jazbury, too, went over to the bush and sniffed 
about, and he could very easily tell that Yowler 
had been there. It made him feel very sad that 
their companion should have played such a trick 
upon them. 

When they came to the hollow tree they found 
Yowler still fast asleep. Their coming awak- 
ened him. “Did you catch anything?” he asked 
eagerly. 

“Yes, we caught a bird.” 

“Where is it?” Yowler sprang to his feet. 
“Did you bring it home?” 

Jazbury and Fluffy looked at each other. 
Then Fluffy said, “No; we ate it.” 

“Ate it! Without giving me any? What 
d’you mean by that? Ain’t we pardners? 
Here I bring you along with me, and show you 
a good place to sleep, and you go and eat up all 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 55 

the breakfast without giving me even a taste.” 

“You didn’t give us any of the bird you 
caught,” retorted Fluffy. 

“Bird I caught! What d’you mean? When 
did I catch any bird?” 

“Before we were awake. And you ate it all 
yourself, and never saved a bit for us.” 

“I don’t know what you mean; don’t know 
what you’re talking about,” blustered Yowler. 
“But I’m not going to argue with you. If you 
can catch things, so can 1 . And I can eat them 
all myself, too, just as much as you can.” And 
he stalked away, and would not answer them 
when they called after him. 

After that Yowler hunted by himself, and the 
other kittens by themselves. At first Jazbury 
found it very hard to catch anything. The birds 
and mice all got away from him. He would 
have had to go hungry or to content himself with 
grasshoppers and beetles if it had not been for 


56 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

Fluffy. But Fluffy was such a good little hunter 
that he always managed to catch enough to eat, 
and whatever he caught he always shared with 
Jazbury. He was a better hunter than Yowler, 
and after a while Yowler said maybe they’d all 
better hunt together and share whatever they 
might catch. “Only, of course, Jazbury ought 
to let us have the best pieces,” he added, “be- 
cause he’s no good about catching things.” 

“Yes, he is, too,” mewed Fluffy indignantly. 
“He’s learning. And anyway. I’d rather share 
with him than with you any day, and you can 
hunt by yourself, and we’ll hunt by ourselves. 
That’s the way you wanted us to do it at first, and 
now that’s the way we like best.” 

This made Yowler very angry, and he would 
not speak to Fluffy for a whole day. 

Jazbury, indeed, was becoming a very fine 
hunter, — better, even, than Fluffy himself. 
Fluffy was very skilful, but Jazbury was not 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 57 

only quick, he was also strong and brave; 
stronger and braver than the gentle little Fluffy 
had ever dreamed of being. 

Fluffy admired Jazbury very much, and was 
proud of the way he caught things. But one 
thing troubled him. Jazbury would not wash 
himself. Every day he grew dirtier and 
rougher, until at last he looked more like some 
wild creature of the wood than a little town kit- 
ten who should have known enough to wash and 
care for himself. 


VIII 


F or some time the weather was beauti- 
ful, clear and warm and sunny. But 
after about a week it changed. Clouds 
gathered. There was a feeling of rain in the 
air, and the wind was chilly. The kittens hud- 
dled close together at night for warmth. Yow- 
ler always took the warmest corner, the one 
furthest back in the tree where the leaves were 
thickest and softest. 

In the daytime he went off on long prowls. 
Sometimes the other kittens did not see him from 
the time he set out in the morning till he came 
back at night. They no longer liked or trusted 
him, but it troubled them that he should stay 
away so much. One day Jazbury asked him 
58 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 59 

whether he wouldn’t show them the way home. 
They were tired of staying in the woods, and he 
wanted to see his dear mother and his Aunt 
Tabby again. When Jazbury said this he felt 
so sad that he began to mew pitifully. Fluffy 
joined in, and the two little kittens cried bitterly. 
“Let’s go home!” they cried. “Oh, let’s go 
home. We don’t want to stay here any longer.” 

“Hush!” cried Yowler angrily. “Oh, hush! 
I tell you I’m not going home. Not for a long 
time, anyway. You may go if you like, but I 
shan’t.” 

“But we don’t know the way! We don’t 
know the wa-y-y-y !” wailed the kittens. 

“Well, I can’t help that,” retorted Yowler, 
and he stalked away and left them still crying. 

It was the very next night that a rain set in. 
Yowler had come home late. Jazbury and 
Fluffy had already cuddled down together in 
the tree, as far back as they could, for the night 


6o THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

was chilly and damp. But as soon as Yowler 
came he crowded them out of their snug nest 
and took it himself. 

“Oh, Yowler I We just got that place warm !” 
mewed Fluffy. 

“I don’t care! You can get another place 
warm. This is where I am going to sleep.” 

“I don’t think that’s fair !” said Jazbury. But 
Yowler paid no attention to him. He curled 
down and soon was fast asleep. 

It was not long after this that the rain began. 
It beat into the tree. “Oh, dear !” said Jazbury. 
“I’m getting so wet.” 

“Listen, Jazbury,” whispered Fluffy. “Yow- 
ler has the only dry place here. Do you remem- 
ber that sort of little cave I found today under 
that big rock? It isn’t far away, and I’m sure 
we could keep dry there. It isn’t very big. Not 
big enough for all of us to sleep in, but there 
would be plenty of room for you and me.” 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 6i 

“All right,” said Jazbury. “One thing’s 
sure, we’ll soon be dripping wet if we stay here.” 

The two little friends crept out of the hollow 
without wakening Yowler, and ran quickly over 
to the cave Fluffy had spoken of. It was indeed 
a cosy little cave and perfectly dry, really much 
better than the hollow of the tree. The two lit- 
tle kittens crept in and huddled down to- 
gether. 

Outside the rain beat. The leaves hung down 
from the trees, drenched and heavy with water ; 
the ground was sodden, but the two little kit- 
tens cared nothing for all this. 

All night they slept there as dry and comfort- 
able as though they had been in their cellar at 
home instead of out in the wild wood with only 
a rock cave to shelter them. 

The next morning Fluffy and Jazbury were 
awakened by a loud “Miaw-aw-aw ! Miaw-aw- 
aw !” It was Yowler calling them. 


62 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


“That’s Yowler,” said Fluffy. “He must 
have awakened.” 

Jazbury rose and stretched himself and 
stepped outside the cave. It had stopped rain- 
ing; the sun was shining down through the 
leaves, but the woods were still wet. 

“Here we are, Yowler,” he called. 

Yowler came over toward the cave. He was 
dripping wet. 

“Where have you been all night?” he asked 
crossly. “What did you mean by going off 
without telling me? Look how wet I am! A 
mean trick, I call it.” 

“Well, Yowler, we thought you were dry,” 
said Jazbury. “You took the only dry place 
there was, so we came over here.” 

“Dry place! I look as if I’d been in a dry 
place, don’t I? I just guess not. Sopping wet 
I am.” 



He turned on them so fiercely that they were frightened 








THREE LITTLE KITTENS 63 

“Well, Yowler, we didn’t know it,” said 
Fluffy. 

“Oh, be quiet. I don’t care, anyway. I’m 
tired of the woods. I know a farmhouse near 
here where they want another cat, and I’m going 
there to live. I met a cat that lives there, and he 
asked me to come.” 

“Oh, but Yowler! What’s going to become 
of us? Can we come, too?” cried Jazbury. 

“No, you can’t. They only want one cat. If 
you tried to tag along they’d drive us all away.” 

“But won’t you show us the way home first?” 
begged Fluffy. “Please, please do. We’re 
tired of the woods, too, but we don’t know where 
else to go.” 

“Well, you find some place,” said Yowler. 
“I did, so you can, too, if you try hard enough.” 
With that he turned tail and stalked away 
through the wood. 


64 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

Jazbury and Fluffy followed him, mewing, 
until he turned on them so fiercely that they 
were frightened. Then they stopped and stood 
looking after him until he disappeared in the 
wood, and never once did he look back, or say 
one word of good-bye to them. 


IX 


rp' 


IHERE! He’s gone away mad,” mewed 
Fluffy. “Now what shall we do?” 
‘Do! Why just what we have been 
doing,” said Jazbury. “He wasn’t any good to 
us, anyway.” 


“Yes, but I want to go home. Oh, I do want 
to go home; and we don’t know the way.” 

“Why don’t we? Guess I could find it just 
as well as Yowler.” 

“Oh, could you? Could you, Jazbury?” 

“Listen, Fluffy!” said Jazbury. “There was 
something mother told me, and I’d forgotten all 
about it. I just remembered a little while ago. 
She said cats — and kittens, too, if they weren’t 
too little — could always get home from any place 
65 


66 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


if they just didn’t worry about it and try to re- 
member the way to go. All they have to do is 
to love their home, and run along without think- 
ing, and then they’ll get there.” 

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Fluffy, 
“but let’s go anyway. Even if we don’t get 
home we can’t be any more lost than we are 
now.” 

“But we will get there,” declared Jazbury. 
“Come on! We might as well go right now.” 

“All right; I’m ready.” 

The two little kittens set out at once, and with- 
out any more talk about it. They trotted away 
through the green depths of the wood, and after 
a while the trees grew thinner, and then they 
came out of the wood upon a hot, sunny stretch 
of dusty road. 

“We go this way,” said Jazbury, and he set off 
down the road just as if he knew exactly where 
he was going. 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 67 

“Are you sure this is the right way?” asked 
Fluffy. 

“Now, Fluffy, you mustn’t ask me that,” said 
Jazbury. “I mustn’t think about it, but just run 
along, and we’ll get there. Don’t you be 
afraid.” 

Fluffy said no more, but padded along after 
Jazbury. Jazbury never stopped or looked 
around. He just went running straight on 
down the dusty road. 

After they had gone for quite a distance 
Fluffy heard a noise behind them, a thudding 
sound, and with it a sound of rumbling and roll- 
ing. He looked around, and there behind them 
came a great, enormous horse and a buggy, with 
two ladies driving in it. 

“Jazbury,” he mewed softly, “there’s some- 
thing coming.” 

Jazbury stopped and looked round. Then he 
ran over to the side of the road, and crouched 


68 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


down. “Come over here till they get past, 
Fluffy,” he said. 

Fluffy trotted over and crouched down beside 
him. 

Nearer and nearer came the horse and buggy, 
the horse thudding along and the buggy rum- 
bling after it. 

Just as the buggy came to where the kittens 
were one of the ladies cried out, “Oh, Sarah! 
Look there 1 Look at those kittens.” 

The buggy stopped, and the two ladies leaned 
forward, staring at Jazbury and Fluffy. 

“How do you suppose they ever got here?” 
asked the lady. 

“I don’t know,” answered her companion. 
“I suppose some one wanted to get rid of them 
and dropped them here.” 

“Isn’t that wicked! What shall we do about 
it?” 

The talking went on, The kittens could hear 



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THREE LITTLE KITTENS 69 

the voices, one soft and gentle, the other quick 
and decided. 

“Let’s get down among the weeds. Fluffy,” 
whispered Jazbury. “Then we can creep 
away.” 

The kittens ran, crouching, down into a dry 
gutter beside the road. There they were almost 
hidden by the dusty weeds. 

“Oh, Sarah! They’re running away!” cried 
the soft-voiced lady. 

“I’ll catch them!” said the other. She hastily 
clambered down from the buggy, and ran over 
to the side of the road and parted the weeds. 
When the kittens looked up they could see her 
big face above them looking down at them. 
Then her hands came down through the weeds, 
and caught them by the napes of their necks. 
One hand caught Jazbury and the other hand 
caught Fluffy. The hands lifted them out of 
the weeds and up into the air. 


70 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

The kittens were very much frightened. 
Fluffy hung quietly, with his legs and tail curled 
up, and his head on one side, but Jazbury fought 
and struggled, and tried to scratch the hand that 
held him. 

“Did you ever see such a little wildcat?” the 
lady called to her friend, as she carried the kit- 
tens back to the buggy. 

“Here! Let’s put them in a bag!” cried the 
other lady. 

She dived down under the seat of the buggy 
and got out a big brown bag, and held it out with 
the mouth open ready for the kittens to be 
dropped into it. 

A moment later and Fluffy and Jazbury found 
themselves in the bag, with the mouth of it tied 
tight, so that they could not possibly get out. 
The bag, with them in it, was laid in the back 
part of the buggy, and then the rumbling 
and thudding began again as the buggy drove 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 71 

on. The kittens were jolted and shaken about. 

“Oh, Jazbury!” mewed Fluffy. “What do 
you s’pose they’re going to do with us?” 

“I don’t know. We’ll have to try to get out.” 

Jazbury began to tear and bite at the loose 
threads of the bag, but he could not make even 
the least little hole in the bagging. After awhile 
he gave it up and began to mew loudly. 

“Mew ! Me-ew-ew-ew !” he cried. 

“Mew-ew! Me-ew-ew-ew! Mew-ew-ew!” 
cried Fluffy. 

The buggy rumbled and jolted. The kittens 
mewed and mewed. Now and then they 
stopped and listened. Then they could hear the 
voices talking up above them. Then they 
would mew again louder than ever. 

After a while the buggy stopped, and the bag 
with the kittens in it was lifted out and carried 
into the house. The bag was opened again, and 
the two big faces looked in on them. 


72 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

“Did you ever see anything as dirty as the 
black one?” said the lady who caught them. “I 
hated to touch him. I know one thing; if I’m 
going to keep him, the first thing I’m going to 
do is to give him a good scrubbing with tar 
soap.” 

“Oh, Sarah !” cried the other. “You oughtn’t 
to wash cats. You’ll make him sick. Get the 
white one out for me, won’t you? I’m afraid to 
put my hand in. I’m afraid the black one will 
scratch me.” 

Miss Sarah put her hand down in the bag, and 
lifted Fluffy out and gave him to her companion. 

“Isn’t he too sweet?” cried that lady. “He 
doesn’t look a bit dirty, either. I’m going to 
take him right over home and give him some- 
thing to eat. I expect he’s hungry.” 

After she had gone. Miss Sarah closed the bag 
and carried it a while and dumped it down again. 
Jazbury heard her call, “Bring me a basin of 



He spit and mewed and fought, but she held him there 



r,4- 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 73 

water out in the shed, Hannah, and that tar soap 
from up in the bathroom closet.” 

Jazbury did not know what the words meant, 
but they frightened him. 

A little later the bag was untied again and 
turned upside down, and Jazbury was shaken 
out of it. Trembling and frightened, he looked 
about him. He was in a shed. Miss Sarah was 
there, and another woman with a checked apron 
on. 

“Poor little thing! He looks scared to 
death,” said the woman with the checked apron. 

“I know,” said Miss Sarah. “I just hate to 
wash him, but I can’t take him into the house 
till he’s clean.” 

Then a terrible thing happened to Jazbury. 
Miss Sarah stooped and picked him up, and be- 
fore he could catch his breath she had put him in 
a basin of water. He spit and mewed and 
fought, but she held him there. She splashed 


74 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

water over him, and she rubbed him with soap. 
She rubbed the soapsuds in around his ears, and 
over his forehead, and even down his little black 
nose. She soaped his legs and his body and his 
tail. Then she washed the soapsuds off. Last 
of all, she wrapped him in a towel and rubbed 
and rubbed and rubbed him. 

By that time Jazbury was too miserable to 
fight. He only shivered and shook and mewed 
pitifully now and then. 

“There!” said Miss Sarah at last. “That’s 
about as dry as I can get you. You poor little 
thing! You shall have a good meal to comfort 
you.” 

She carried Jazbury into the house, and his 
fur was so clean that it fairly shone and glistened 
like black satin. “You’re a real beauty,” said 
Miss Sarah, “and I never would have guessed it 
when I picked you up in the road.” 

That’s the way Jazbury began life in his new 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 75 

home. It was a very pleasant home except for 
one thing; Miss Sarah would wash him every 
now and then. 

He had plenty to eat and drink. There were 
soft chairs and sunny spots to sleep in, and as 
soon as he was used to the place, and Miss Sarah 
thought he would not run away, he was allowed 
to go out of doors whenever he wanted to. 

The first day he was allowed to go out he 
found there was a flower garden in front of 
the house. It was a fine place to play. Paths 
wound about among the flower beds. Bees 
buzzed busily from bloom to bloom, and bright 
butterflies floated about overhead. 

Jazbury examined it all over. There was a 
paling fence between it and the garden next 
door. When Jazbury came near this fence he 
saw a little furry white face peering through at 
him between the palings. It was Fluffy. 

“Oh, Jazbury!” he called joyfully. “I was 


76 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

watching for you. I hoped you’d come out 
soon.” 

“Why ! did you know I lived here?” 

“Yes. The lady that carried me away that 
day just took me in next door. I knew our 
yards were next to each other.” 

“Come on over,” said Jazbury. 

Fluffy squeezed through between the palings, 
and the two little kittens greeted each other joy- 
fully. They rubbed noses and purred and 
purred. After that they began to play. They 
ran races along the paths, and tried to catch the 
butterflies, and had a fine time together. 

At lunch time Fluffy had to go home, but he 
and Jazbury agreed to meet out in the garden 
every single day, unless it rained, and play to- 
gether just as they used to do. It made J azbury 
very happy to know he was to have his little 
friend living so near him. 


X 

I T was a warm, sunny day in June. 

The two little kittens had met as they often 
did, under a large blush rosebush in the 
garden. Jazbury did not seem as lively and 
playful as usual. 

“What’s the matter with you, Jazbury?” asked 
Fluffy. “You seem so quiet. Don’t you want 
to play?” 

“No.” 

“Why?” 

Jazbury was silent for a moment. Then he 
said, “I’ve just had a bath again.” 

“Oh, Jazbury ! Not again?” 

“Yes, again. With water. And soap. And 

77 


78 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

rubbed afterward. You know. I told you all 
about it.” 

“But, Jazbury!” cried Fluffy. “What does 
she do it for? Of course you were dirty at first. 
You know you were. You really needed to be 
washed then. I don’t believe you could have 
cleaned yourself, you were so very dirty. But 
you don’t need to be bathed now.” 

“Course I don’t. I wash and wash myself. 
I wash every day. I wash myself just as much 
as you do. And I’m not going to stand being 
scrubbed with water. No, I’m not. 

“But what are you going to do about it?” 

“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m go- 
ing to run away. I’m going home!” 

Fluffy started. 

“Oh, Jazbury! You’re not — not really go- 
ing home? Where our mommas live?” 

“Yes, I am. I’m going away tonight before 
she has a chance to wash me again.” 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 79 

“Oh, goody! goody!” cried Fluffy. “And 
I’ll go, too. May I, Jazbury? I want to.” 

“All right. You meet me out here tonight 
when it’s too dark for any one to see us. I’ll be 
waiting for you.” 

The two little kittens were so excited over this 
plan that Jazbury grew quite cheerful again. 
How wonderful it would be to see their mothers 
again, and to play in their own back yards. 
They felt as though they could hardly wait to 
set out on their homeward journey. 


XI 


I T was dark; the stars were in the sky, and 
the fireflies were flickering among the 
flowers of the garden when Jazbury and 
Fluffy met under the rosebush again. 

“Are you there, Jazbury?” mewed Fluffy. 
“Yes; waiting for you. Come on!” 

The two little kittens stole down the garden 
path to the gate, and out into the road beyond. 

“Are you sure you can find the way, Jaz- 
bury?” asked Fluffy. 

“Now, Fluffy, you mustn’t begin asking me 
that,” said Jazbury. “If I begin thinking, we’ll 
get lost. We’ve just got to go along the way I 
feel like going, and then we’ll get there.” 

The kittens were silent after that. They 

So 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 8i 

trotted along steadily through the starlit night. 
They had no trouble about keeping to the road, 
for kittens can see just about as well in the dark 
as in the light. 

They came to the place where the ladies had 
found them that day that now seemed so long 
ago. After a while they passed a big white gate, 
and a long lane leading up toward a barn. 
There was a farm-house on beyond the barn. 
They heard a dog barking there. 

“Oh, Jazbury! I hope that dog won’t come 
and catch us,” whispered Fluffy. 

“Course he won’t. He’s too far away to see 
us.” 

The next moment the kittens stopped short, 
their little hearts leaping with terror. Some- 
thing was moving stealthily among the weeds 
at the roadside. A dead twig cracked. There 
was a sound of breathing, and a gleam of big 
yellow eyes. 


82 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


“What’s that, Jazbury?” whispered Fluffy. 

“Hus-s-sh! I don’t know!” 

There was a silence. “Jazbury, I’m scared. 
Let’s get away,” whispered Fluffy again. 

“Hush, I tell you !” 

The thing, whatever it was, was coming out 
from the weeds. Jazbury’s tail grew big. His 
fur stood on end. The next moment a well- 
known yowl broke the stillness. 

“Yowler !” cried Jazbury. 

“Yeh! Yowler,” answered that kitten, as he 
gave a leap out from among the weeds. “Hello, 
kits ! I didn’t know who you were until I heard 
you whispering together. Where are you 
bound for?” 

“We’re going home,” said Jazbury. He was 
not at all glad to meet with Yowler again. 

“Going home, are you I Well, now, that’s not 
half bad. If you like, maybe I’ll go along with 
you.” 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 83 

“But I thought you wanted to live on a farm,” 
said Fluffy. 

“Well, so I did, and I’ve been living there, but 
I don’t have to stay in one place all the time.” 

“Don’t you like it there?” asked Jazbury. 

“Sure I did. Like it fine. Sure had a grand 
time. But I guess maybe the baker’s looking 
for me, and I might as well go home. One 
place’s just as good as another for me.” 

Neither Jazbury nor Fluffy wanted Yowler 
with them again, but they did not know how to 
tell him that. 

“Well, let’s go on,” said Jazbury. “No use 
staying here all night.” 

As the three kittens trotted along through the 
starry darkness Yowler began to ask the kittens 
about where they had been living, how they had 
been treated, and what they had to eat. 

“Had pretty good times, didn’t you?” he said 
at last. 


84 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

“Yes; but we like our own homes best?” 
mewed Jazbury. 

Yowler was silent for a while. Then sud- 
denly he burst out, “Tell you what! I said I 
liked it fine at the farm, but I didn’t. They 
treated me mean. Never got a thing to eat but 
mice and rats, and had to catch everything for 
myself. They kept me in the barn, too, and if 
I even so much as poked my nose outside it the 
dog was after me. Wow! If I’d had a home 
like you two, catch me leaving it! But some 
kits have all the luck.” 

Fluffy and Jazbury felt quite sorry for Yow- 
ler. He must indeed have had a very hard time. 
But then, as Fluffy said to Jazbury later on, if 
he hadn’t been so mean to them and run away 
and left them, he might have found a good home, 
too, just as they had, and have stayed there if he 
had chosen to. 


XII 


M other bunch and Aunt Tabby 

were sitting on the kitchen steps, 
feeling very sad. 

It was a long time since little Jazbury had run 
away and left them, but they could not get used 
to being without him. Bitterly did they miss his 
fun and his liveliness and all his pretty ways. 

“The quickest, strongest, handsomest kitten I 
ever had,” said Mother Bunch. 

“If I only hadn’t boxed his ears that time,” 
mourned Aunt Tabby, “maybe he wouldn’t have 
run away.” 

“You mustn’t let yourself think that,” mewed 
Mother Bunch. “I guess we were both of us a 
little hard on him.” 


8s 


86 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 


Suddenly there was a sound of scratching and 
scrabbling on the fence between the yard and 
the lot. 

“Oh, if that were only little Jazbury,” mewed 
Aunt Tabby sadly. 

“Don’t say that; you know it couldn’t be,” 
said Mother Bunch. 

A moment later both cats sprang to their feet 
with a loud mew. 

Above the top of the fence appeared a little 
black and white face, two white paws, a black 
body, a black tail waving like a flag. It was 
Jazbury. 

He jumped down into the yard, and rushed 
up to his mother and Aunt Tabby. Fluffy fol- 
lowed him. 

“Momma! momma!” he mewed. “Oh, Aunt 
Tabby ! I’ll never run away again. Oh, I’m so 
glad to be home!” 

He and his mother and Aunt Tabby rubbed 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 87 

noses, and the cats kissed Jazbury, cat fashion, 
and mewed aloud with joy. 

“And little Fluffy, too!” cried Mother Bunch. 
“Oh, how glad your mother will be to have you 
home again. She’s so unhappy about you.” 

None of them noticed, at first, that Yowler 
had followed the other two kittens into the yard, 
and was now sitting over near the fence grin- 
ning at them. 

“It was very, very naughty of you to run away, 
Jazbury,” said his aunt. “We’ve been worried 
to death about you.” 

“I know,” mewed Jazbury, “and I’m so sorry. 
But I’ll never do it again. Aunt Tabby. Indeed 
I won’t.” 

“I suppose you ought to be punished,” sighed 
his mother, “but I’m so glad to have you back 
again I haven’t the heart to do it.” 

At that moment Aunt Tabby espied Yowler 
sitting there grinning at them. 


88 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

“Did you go away with that Yowler cat?” she 
cried. “Did you, Jazbury? Tell me at once.” 

“Well, yes, I did.” 

“I knew it! It’s all his fault. S-s-st! 
Gr-r-r-r! Get out of here, you bad cat!” And 
Aunt Tabby flew at Yowler so fiercely that he 
gave a wild miaw, and flew over the fence and 
disappeared from sight. 

“And don’t you ever dare to come back 
again,” Aunt Tabby growled after him. 

And Yowler never did. Maybe he went back 
to the baker’s, and maybe he left the neighbor- 
hood in search of a better home, but at any rate 
Jazbury never saw him again. 

And now Jazbury and the two cats settled 
down on the kitchen steps together, and Jazbury 
told his mother and Aunt Tabby all his adven- 
tures ever since that early morning when he had 
stolen away from home. 


THREE LITTLE KITTENS 89 

Little Fluffy had already climbed over into his 
own yard in search of his mother, so there were 
only the three of them. 

The two older cats listened eagerly to Jaz- 
bury’s tale. “And I’ll tell you one thing, Aunt 
Tabby,” mewed Jazbury as he ended his story, 
“I learned to keep myself clean while I was at 
Miss Sarah’s. You -needn’t ever bother over 
that again.” 

“Well, that’s a good thing,” replied his aunt. 
“Almost worth running away for, I should 
say.” 

“I don’t know about that,” sighed his mother. 
“I don’t know whether even that was worth all 
the unhappiness he gave us.” 

And Jazbury felt very sad at the thought of all 
the trouble he had caused. 

That night the kitten slept in his own cellar 
again, with his dear mother and Aunt Tabby, 


90 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

one on either side of him. How safe and warm 
and happy and sheltered he felt. 

When his mother and Aunt Tabby awoke the 
next morning, however, Jazbury was no longer 
there. 

“What has become of him?” mewed Aunt 
Tabby. “He surely can’t have run away 
again.” 

“Oh, no! Never think such a thing,” cried 
his mother. “He has just gone on upstairs. 
Let’s go and find him.” 

The two cats hurried up the cellar steps to- 
gether. They found the door at the top already 
open. As they entered the kitchen they saw 
Jazbury dragging something in from the shed 
beyond. Something that was too heavy for him 
to lift. 

“Jazbury, what have you got there?” cried his 
mother. 



They saw Jashury dragging something in from the shed beyond 




THREE LITTLE KITTENS 91 

Jazbury dropped the thing and ran over to 
her. “It’s the rat,” he said, 

“The rat!” cried Aunt Tabby. “Not the rat 
that lived in the shed, and that I’ve been trying 
to catch for such a long time!” 

“Yes, that’s the one,” mewed Jazbury. 

The cats could hardly believe him. They 
ran over and examined the rat all over, sniffing 
at it. 

“But how ever did you manage to do it?” 
cried Aunt Tabby. “Why, the creature’s almost 
as big as you are.” 

“Well, you see, I had to learn to catch big 
things in the wood,” mewed Jazbury. “The rat 
didn’t know that; he thought he could frighten 
me the way he had done before. So when I 
went out to the shed early— before you were 
awake — he came out to catch me; but I caught 
him, instead.” 


92 THREE LITTLE KITTENS 

Then how his mother and Aunt Tabby praised 
and petted him! Not another kitten in the 
neighbourhood, not even Fluffy himself, could 
have done such a thing as that. 

But Jazbury was not spoiled by their praises. 
“Any cat could have done it,” he said, “if they 
could Only have caught it. It was only because 
he thought he could frighten me that I had a 
chance to get him.” 

But from that time on Jazbury became famous 
as a mouser, and he kept himself so clean that 
when he grew up he was one of the handsomest 
cats in all the neighbourhood around. 


THE END 


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